Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
While TV, cinema and OTT content are often deemed to be ‘far-fetched’ or ‘glazed’ with cinematic fabrication, are the portrayals also a reflection of our own reality?
Is fictional celluloid becoming our reality check?
Various releases of 2020, most of which have been on OTT platforms owing to the pandemic, have looked at different aspects women’s standing in society ranging from sexuality, violence, social freedom and choices.
A collection of visual content has somewhat formed a timeline, depicting Indian women and their lives in different eras. While Bulbul looks at the aspect of child marriage in colonial India, Indian Matchmaking exposes the reality of the ‘Indian marriage market’.
While we may claim to have moved forward from child marriages, is there even a question about the misogynistic, regressive nature of Indian matrimony? Don’t the pages of our newspapers feature proof of various families’ search for ‘fair beautiful upper-caste’ women? While we don’t see matrimonial ads about flexibility often, I’m not convinced that it is not on someone’s list of required characteristics for their own daughter-in-law.
Along the same lines, Bandish Bandits exposes other realities of an Indian marriage. Is bride price in a haveli very different from the one-way ‘gift exchange’ we see at weddings today? Women’s choices are never truly their own. The show quite rightly portrays how much of their life women have to give up within a marriage. More than often, women are at a crossroads between societal norms, family and their own longings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHmqw43Vw5s
The Malayalam Netflix release Varane Avashyamund quite accurately depicts how society views the romance in the life of an older woman. Shobhana’s character is faced with stringent judgement from her own daughter for simply wanting male company.
Meanwhile, Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitaare portrays how it is completely acceptable for men of all ages to engage in any form of infatuation they fancy.
While Gunjan Saxena has received massive critique, the movie delivers the much needed message about the importance of a father who is supportive of a woman’s career.
These depictions beg the question, when we term cinema and TV to be fictitious, are we really just running away from our own reality?
The set of 2020 releases feature strong characters without painting a rosy picture of women’s lives. Kitty from Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitaare lives the life of young girl in a modern city. Through the urban struggles of women, Kitty questions society’s moral policing.
From a young innocent girl, Bulbul’s character develops into a stronger personality that is often at odds with the male lead’s expectation of a female. Despite judgement, Neena from Varane Aavashyamund continues to pursue the companionship she longed for.
While a good portion of releases deliver a clear message, often, small scenes have massive social weight.
A scene from Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitaare features Dolly having a drink by herself after a dinner party in her own house. The scene spoke volumes. Dolly, who prided herself at being a perfect house wife and mother, was oblivious to her own entrapment. Between dropping her children to the school bus and trying to run a household, her various frustrations were supressed.
Often a parcel in the bandwagon of the family name, women are silenced. A scene from Bulbul depicts Binodini picking her husband’s toy up from a scene of crime and hiding it under her saree. These films along with themes of violence against women portray the dynamics of class and caste.
Another scene from the same movie features the male lead Satya looking at his sister-in-law as a widow, surprised at his own social reality. Another strong shot portrays a beaten up wife at her husband’s funeral in a conundrum about what she should feel.
While looking through a crowd of these releases, some dialogues leave a deep imprint representative of biases, atrocities and other glum realities. Dolly’s ‘son’ who begins questioning his gender identity looks at his mother while playing with dolls asking “ghar pe hi peetogi na?”. With cases of suicides and deaths from conversion therapy, can we really term this to be fictional?
Bulbul on the other hand, features dialogues such as “chup rehna!” (keep quiet!). Adding on, little Bulbul who is getting ready to be married off to an older man asks her aunt why she was being made to wear toe rings. To this she said “ladkiyon ko vash main laane ke liye” (To bring girls under control). Innocent Bulbul asks her aunt “vash kya hota hai” (What is vash?).
While we often critique movies in terms of the dramatization of scenes, is the line between fiction and reality becoming less blurred?
From Dolly being asked to serve tea to everyone in an office where she herself was employed, to Mohini (Bandish Bandits) being asked to abandon music to take up household duties, is there really any fiction to this cinematic content? Aren’t scenes from Bulbul, that feature violence against women, the reality of Indian women today?
If not the same, scenes on and off camera are now separated by only a thin line.
A student of International Relations at Shiv Nadar University. Enjoys old bands and acrylics. read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
Please enter your email address